Kenka Ramen
A manga about Yoshitsune, the leader of a biker gang, who ends up taking over his father’s ramen shop in order to stop the local yakuza from buying it out.
We’ve discussed this series on a previous episode.
The first food manga by Shigeru Tsuchiyama that would eventually become his genre staple. You have a simple story here of a delinquent struggling to learn his father’s secrets for making the best ramen. It’s nothing fancy but solid entertainment about enjoying some noodles. It’s what you can expect from any series by Tsuchiyama.
There is some extremely outdated sexual assault stuff that happens at the beginning but at least the female character doesn’t take any of Yoshitsune’s shit and it doesn’t come up after that. This is a solid read but I still think Kuishinbo! is Tsuchiyama’s best food manga.
Available digitally in English from Nihonbungeisha Co. LTD.
~dakazu
